Two's Company, Three's A Crowd
by CSIsara-side
Summary: When Sara and Grissom arrive at a crime scene, the body is not all that it seems, and soon Sara must figure out what really happened...But the killers are not finished yet...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The jogger's breath came in steams in front of him, encircling his mouth. His dog was panting along side him as they rhythmic footsteps took them around another corner. The night was a cold one, and there was a chill wind that went straight through his fleece. Jack came on this same route every night with Tyler, past the story book houses, the people with 4.2 children and their Pickett fences. He smiled as he looked down at Tyler who was straining on the leash in front. He never seemed to run out of energy, which, in one way, was good for Jack as it meant he always had someone to run with.

Suddenly he noticed a change in Tyler, his barking became frenzied and his ears shot backwards. His tail was clasped between his legs and he let out a shrill whine.

"Ty…What is it?"

With no warning, he gave an almighty tight, ripping the lead straight from his hands. He whipped round the corner. Jack swore under his breath and began running after him, his trainers pounding the pavement beneath him. He turned the same corner and skidded to a halt, Ty was sat amidst someone's pristine garden. There was no fence it was open onto the road. He walked slowly towards his disobedient dog, a disapproving look on his face. He stopped in his tracks. Ty was sitting in front of a body of a teenage girl. She was sprawled in a macabre position her shirt ripped and open, her bra showing.

"Oh my god…"

Grissom made his way under the yellow tape, the usual expression on his face, the forensics jacket on his back slick with the mist in the air. He surveyed the scene. Neighbours in their pyjamas were huddled together behind the tape, officers spread at points taking statements, and the jogger and his dog were sat safely a few meters away.

"Great night for it…."

Grissom span around, and smiled. Sara stood a solemn look on her face and her kit in her hand. He lifted the tape for her as she made her way next to him.

"What we got?"

He gestured to the body as they strode over to it.

"Caucasian girl, I would say about 15. Found by the jogger, Jack Falker, his dog. He called it in."

She nodded and knelt beside the girl, there was no sign of the assistant coroner yet. No surprises there though, they seemed to be making a habit of beating him to the scene. She looked down at the girl, her heart sinking. She hated these cases. The girl's face was a map of bruises and as the jogger had noted her top was torn open and the buttons were off set.

"She's been redressed," Grissom noted. Sara looked up and nodded. Both of them looked around the ground, shining their torches expertly over each section of grass. Grissom's lit up a disturbance in the grass.

"Tire tracks."

He began to formulate a scene in his mind. This wasn't the original crime scene by the look of things. The girl had been severely beaten and he was already beginning to think sexual assault, but there was no sign of disturbance other than the marks left by a vehicle. Sara inclined her head as though following his train of thought.

"You think it's a dump? Is there any ID?"

He quickly felt through her pockets and came up with nothing. He stood up stretching his legs. He was going to grab his kit from the car, and hopefully by then David would have arrived. In the mean time,

"Take initial photo's of the body and the tracks. We'll see if we can get a make. This damp might have compromised them though."

Sara nodded and began to snap shots of the ground around the girl, as Grissom disappeared back under the yellow tape. Sara knelt beside the girl, took a close up of her face, and the bruising around her eyes. She shifted slightly and angled the camera to get a photo of the girl's outstretched wrists. She was about to take the photo when her heart shot into her mouth. The girl's fingers had twitched. She was sure of it. She shook her head and berated herself. _You're losing it Sidle…_ She put the lens back up to her eye to try again. The fingers suddenly clenched in a violent motion. Sara shot to her feet.

"Grissom!"

He came running his kit bouncing against his legs. His face was one of worry,

"What? What is it…?"

While still watching the girl's hands, she said,

"When did the paramedic's pronounce?"

He checked his watch and looked back,

"About 30 minutes ago, why?"

Sara took a deep breath still not taking her gaze from the girl. She swallowed,

"'Cos I don't think she's dead…"

Grissom narrowed his eyes in confusing and ducked under the tape once more. He came to where Sara was stood and they both knelt down beside the body. He touched the face of the body. Ice cold. He watched her chest…there was no movement…He leant forwards slowly, closer to the face. He lifted one hand, to check the girl's pupil dilation. Her eyes shot open. Grissom jumped up and Sara took two steps backwards her heart beating ten to the dozen. Before either to do a thing, the girl rolled onto her feet, a look of pure terror on her face, mixed with pain. She began to run, although it was clearly painful. Grissom finally managed to speak.

"Well this is new…."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sara's own breath was short as she jogged after what had just moments been her D.B. She was still in shock; she'd never had a live one before. The girl was slowing, and she could hear her laboured breathing even from several meters behind her. Suddenly she went crashing to the ground just down a small side street. She dragged herself into a small corner, her knees drawn to her chest, and an expression of pure fear on her face. Sara skidded to a halt just feet away from her. She didn't know what to say, she couldn't exactly say, _"Oh sorry about that, just wondering how you've come back from the dead…"_ The girl was shivering something chronic so Sara did the only logical thing that sprang to mind and threw off her own jacket and made her way carefully to the curled up girl and wrapped her in the coat. The girl said nothing, merely looked at the floor. Sara's eyes were instantly drawn to the wrists that were jutting out of the jacket. They were bruised purple and yellow, and there were remnants of a grey substance on them. She sat beside the girl who still said nothing. She could see Grissom and a group of officers not far off, but clearly not coming any closer. She turned slowly to the girl, and tried to smile as nicely as possible. She didn't want her making a bolt for it again, even though she obviously wasn't in the state for it. She decided to try the most obvious thing,

"Hey my names Sara, what's yours?"

The girl said nothing, her eyes barely blinking. She crunched forwards more, deftly curling into a foetal ball. Again Sara noticed more bruising around her neck, and felt her blood rush slightly when she caught sight of what appeared to be bite marks on the left side of her neck. It appeared that her initial instincts had originally been correct. It looked like a very severe sexual assault. This girl needed to go to hospital; it just seemed the persuading was going to be harder than she thought.

"I think we need to get you check over…Will you come with me…We can help you."

The girl looked up blankly, her eyes dull. But to Sara's surprise she allowed herself to be helped up by her. She leant heavily on her clearly not wanting to put weight on her right foot. They began making their unsteady way down the road back to Grissom and the now stationed there, medics. Without warning the girl suddenly collapsed, falling in a breathless heap on the hard floor. She was red in the face and seemed barely able to catch one breath. Sara instantly reacted,

"Can we get the medics over here now!"

The group ran over, followed close in pursuit by Grissom. The girl was opening and closing her mouth like a fish struggling for air. The medic's immediately placed a mask over her face, but she flung out an arm and grabbed onto the Sara. She looked surprised. The girl had seemed totally detached just moments ago. With the other arm, the girl pulled off the mask momentarily to gasp out a few words.

"It's Lucy…My names Lucy…Don't leave me…"

The medic's placed the mask back on her face and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She was placed on a stretcher and they rolled her quickly to the waiting ambulance. Sara followed them down, but Grissom stopped her.

"Sara, I need you here, on evidence."

But she shook her head stubbornly,

"Get Nick. She asked for me Grissom, I'm not leaving her."

She noticed the questioning look in his eyes,

"Look while I'm there I can do a kit, and get any evidence of her, before we have nothing to go on at all, OK?"

He nodded, understanding that there was probably no point arguing, and she was right, they did need someone to get a statement and collect any DNA. Admitting defeat he paged Nick, and watched as Sara jumped in the back of the ambulance next to the girl and disappeared down the road.

Nick arrived just moments later, pulling easily onto the curb. He climbed out, his kit by his side and camera slung around his neck.

"Gris, you pulled me off a 419, for an empty crime scene? Where's the body?"

Grissom raised an eyebrow. How to put this…

"The body ran away…."

Nick blinked.

"Huh!"

Grissom smiled slightly, and directed Nick to the where the tire tracks lay, just in from the 'Crime Scene Do Not Cross' tape.

"Putting it simply, our DB was not a DB. Sara's gone to the hospital with her, I want you to get these tracks, put them through the database and find out what model the vehicle was."

He nodded, his face still incredulous, but began snapping photos.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sara sat her hands in her lap as she waited outside her victim's room. The nurses were in there now, making her comfortable. The doctor walked towards her, clipboard in hand.

"Ms. Sidle?"

Sara nodded, flashing her badge briefly. She snuck a look over the Doctor's shoulder as the nurses made their way out of the girl's room. She caught a quick glimpse of tubes, beeping machines and white clean sheets.

"The girl is in a stable condition, which is surprising considering her injuries."

Sara inclined her head, she knew it wasn't protocol but she wanted to know how the girl was doing.

"Can I ask what the injuries are?"

The Doctor thought for a moment, before nodding slowly,

"The reason she collapsed like she did was due to a perforated lung, caused by one of the 4 broken ribs. She also has a mild to medium concussion. I also suspect a broken tibia and possible sprained wrist. Not to mention to masses upon masses of bruises. From what I have seen this girl is lucky to be alive. As for why the paramedic's pronounced her alive, I'm afraid it is your job to work that out, there seems to be no medical explanation."

Sara shook her head, she was as baffled as the doctor was. There had been no pulse according to the paramedics and as Grissom had felt the girl was stone cold. She pushed it to the back of her mind for the moment,

"Will it be possible for me to talk to her?"

The doctor was about to reply when a small bleeping came from Sara's coat pocket. She got a disapproving glare, but when she saw the caller display she decided to take it outside. She stood against the concrete of the entrance and flipped open the phone,

"What do you have for me Warrick?"

The voice crackled to life on the other end of the phone. She held the phone slightly away from her ear as he spoke.

"I did some research into the name when you paged me about it. Have you _any _idea how many Lucy's there are the greater Nevada!"

Sara stifled a laugh, she knew it was a long shot, but they had to identify the girl's parents or guardians.

"Yes Warrick, but did you find aything?"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone and the sound of tapping on a keyboard.

"There have been no Lucy's matching your age and description been put as missing in the last 6 months."

Sara felt her head swim. _You have to be kidding me._ She thought quickly,

"Ok, so that means that either the girl gave me the wrong name, which I doubt. Or that she has not been declared missing. That can't be right. Someone is missing a 15 year old girl….Warrick….You there….?"

There was more tapping down the phone, and Sara felt herself begin to get a little annoyed.

"Uh…Yeah…Sorry. But I think I might have something. 2 months ago, there was a massive car crash. Made all the local newspapers, nearly all people involved where killed. The Lester family were involved…It says here, that the only survivor from the crash was a Lucy Lester."

Sara's eyebrows rose. Well that would explained why the girl had not been recorded as missing. Though she should be in the care of other relatives or guardians.

"Who is her official guardian Warrick?"

There was more tapping as he put the newly found name into the system.

"I assume she had no other relations as she's in here as being put into the Larson Foster Care. It's a house where they put the kids before they find more permanent, just down town from where she was found."

Sara took a deep breath, ok, well they had a name, and they had a place of residence. She wasn't going to bother even saying why the place hadn't reported her as missing. She'd stayed in a similar place when she was younger. They just didn't care.

"Thanks Warrick."

"No problem."

She rang off and walked back to the room, where the girl was being looked after. She swung open the door and made her way inside. The girl, Lucy, was lain out on the pristine sheets, the white drawn up to her chin, one arm bandaged, and tubes running from her face and her chest. They all traced back to a steadily breathing monitor keeping track of her progress. Lucy was pretending to be asleep. She could tell by the fluttering of her eyelids and the unsteady breathing. She pulled up a chair as quietly as she could and took a seat next to the bed. She knew that Lucy was aware she was there. She was going to wait for her to acknowledge her on her own accord.

Grissom surveyed the grass. There was nothing here. Barring the tyre tracks of course. But they would only get them so far. Nick appeared behind him, and voiced exactly what Grissom was thinking,

"Grissom, we've got nothing."

He quickly thought over the best course of action, their only real lead was the girl and Sara was covering that. He decided there was probably nothing more they could do here, and they had already disrupted most of the day, of the family to whom the garden belonged to,

"Ok Nick, well head back to the lab and process the photos. Sara's camera is in my car as well."

Nick nodded obediently and took of back to HQ. Grissom mused a few moments more, trying to get his head around the baffling case before making his own way back.

Sara was still sat beside the bed; Lucy's eyes were open but clearly not taking anything in. Her face was expressionless, and Sara felt her heart go out to her. Only 2 months ago, she had lost her whole family; her whole world would have changed as she moved into an unfamiliar place. Now this. Sometimes life just wasn't fair.

"You stayed."

Sara turned to look at her; it was the first words she had spoken since she had been back at the crime scene. Her voice was weak and croaky as though it hadn't been used in a while. Sara didn't know what to say, after finding all of what had happened to this one girl.

"I wouldn't have left you."

It seemed like a pathetic response for someone who had lost everything in a matter of weeks, but seemed to strengthen the girl if but slightly. Sara herself felt a little more confident, she had seemingly acquired her trust.

"I guess you know there's a few things that I need to do?"

Lucy nodded mutely. She allowed her to brush out her hair, to swab beneath her finger nails and take a swap from her mouth. She let her move her forwards and bring down her gown gently to take photographs of the bruises and in total, 5 bites. She pulled back the sheets to photograph the ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. Using her tweezers she removed the grey substance that she had noticed earlier and bagged it. She then took photos of what appeared to be defensive wounds on Lucy's palms. A single tear was on the girls cheek when Sara had finished.

"Look I know this is hard, but I need to know."

She thought the answer was already pretty obvious, but she had to check, then she had to get the evidence. It was one of the things she really hated about her job.

"Did he rape you?"

Lucy closed her eyes. It seemed like an eternity before she nodded. Sara sighed and began to prepare the SART kit. She quickly explained to Lucy what it involved and felt an immense sense of sadness when she saw how easily the girl accepted what she would have to go through further. Lucy lay back and Sara began.

Afterwards when Sara was done, she packed away the kit and sat back beside Lucy's bedside. She was filled with a mixture of feelings, pure unadulterated anger; this girl had been seriously assaulted and would probably be scarred for life, and an overwhelming feeling of sadness, but over it all determination as she saw Lucy fiercely wipe the tears from her eyes. Sara quickly stepped outside, where Catherine was waiting,

"I got your page, you have the Kit?"

Sara nodded and mutely handed it over. She also handed over a vial of blood,

"Send this to Tox; I'm thinking it might clear up about why the medics made such a massive error."

Catherine nodded briskly and headed off back to the lab. Sara however span on her heel and headed back into the room, where Lucy was staring straight at the blank wall. Sara took her seat back beside her, she took a deep breath,

"I know that was hard for you, but I'm gonna have to ask you to do something even harder now. I need you to tell me what happened."


End file.
